We are excited to announce that Harbor Wholesale Foods is now working with Partnership For a Healthier America (PHA) to promote healthier foods to our customers and team members in the Pacific Northwest. PHA was founded in 2010 in conjunction with Let’s Move! by the nation’s health and obesity advocates like former First Lady Michelle Obama, and US Senator Cory A. Bookter (D-NJ). PHA brings together companies to establish meaningful commitments and develop strategies to end childhood obesity and promote healthy eating. They also ensure that commitments are kept by working with unbiased, third parties to monitor and publicly report on the progress their partners are making to show what can be achieved when several companies work together. Everyone deserves a chance to be healthy, and PHA works to make healthy food options more readily available in areas
they previously may not have been.

Beginning in 2019, Harbor will be working to update some of our programs to meet PHA’s health standards. PHA has partnered with NACS to create a healthier product calculator that allows distributors, like Harbor, to easily identify packaged foods and beverages that meet PHA’s Healthier Food and Beverage Product Criteria. The calculator considers the product’s nutrient quality (like fat and sodium content) and the product’s primary ingredients (such as whole grains or fruits and vegetables) to
determine if it is healthy or not. The programs being updated include our Snack Right Rack as well as our Fresh Zone Cooler. Currently, about 35% of items on the Snack Right Rack meet the PHA health standards, and in 2019 we are going to be updating the rack so that 50% of items fit PHA’s health standards. The Fresh Zone Cooler currently has 60% of items that meet the criteria, and Harbor will be working to maintain and improve that.

According to NACS, from 2017 to 2018 more than 61% of convenience retailers said that sales of better-for-you items (fruits/vegetables, yogurts,  nuts, health bars) experienced sales gains.

In addition to updating programs and racks, Harbor will be participating in PHA’s campaign, Drink Up. Drink Up was established between PHA and former First Lady Michelle Obama to encourage people to drink more water and more often. You are what you drink, so drink up! Harbor will be creating point of sale materials to promote water consumption as well as begin promoting water consumption around our office.

According to a 2016 report from NACS, bottled water outshined soda in sales for the first time in U.S. history. Bottled water producers pointed to American’s desiring portable, calorie-free beverages for the increase in bottled water sales. This trend is predicted to continue in the coming years.

While you’re flipping through this month’s Retail Solutions, be on the lookout for the PHA Proud Partner Logo. The items designated with this logo meet the PHA Healthier Food and Beverage Product Criteria. The New Year is a great time to start offering more healthy products as customers will be seeking these items out. We also will be adding the Proud Partner logo to items in our Foodservice Solutions book and our monthly e-newsletters, Fresh Ideas and Popular Products. Harbor is excited to grow the offering of healthy products that we supply and make them more available for our customers around the Pacific Northwest. Here’s to a healthier 2019 and beyond!